Number of suicides registered in the East Midlands is higher than the national rate

5642 deaths by suicide were registered in England and Wales in 2022.

That's up slightly on 2021's figures - with men making up three quarters of all deaths.

The East Midlands rate - covering Lincolnshire and Newark - was above the national average.

The stats show

• 4179 male suicides were registered in 2022
• 1462 female suicides were registered in 2022
• People aged 50-54 were most at risk of dying by suicide
• The number of men over the age of 90 dying by suicide nearly doubled

Each year the Office for National Statistics releases the data

Stacey Marriot is the Manager of Lincolnshire's Night Light Cafés - which are out of hours mental health support services.

She tells us more about some of the concerns people are sharing with them:

"It's so important. We have had so many people now feedback to us that they genuinely don't believe they're still be here, if they hadn't had that support when they really needed it.

"So we have people that come in with anxiety about debt, about housing, about relationship breakdown, unemployment and there's a really vast range of issues that people are facing when they come in.

"We have some veterans and we have people that have come here from other countries, so yeah, a really broad range of issues that people are facing.

"But sometimes people tell us that the last thing they want to do is talk about their problems and what they're really like is to be distracted from them. So when people arrive at the Night Light Cafe, they're given the opportunity to have a one to one chat with a trained volunteer, or if they want to have connection with other people, they can join a group conversation or some of our activities, like pool, table tennis or crafts."

'We should all be angry about this'

Suicide survivor Jake Mills set up the Hub of Hope to connect people with local mental health services after he tried to take his own life.

He's told us the numbers are much higher than they need to be: "It makes me so sad and angry.

"We should all be angry about this.

"It comes back round every year, the same conversation, the same sorts of numbers and we should be happy with that? None of us should be happy with that.

"We all became experts on Covid 19, we get messaging out in schools, on the news, in newspapers and we learnt the methods to protect ourselves, the signs and symptoms to recognise how to protect ourselves, our families, our friends and our children.

"We're not getting anywhere near the same messaging around something that is taking thousands and thousands of lives every year and something that is absolutely preventable."

Long delays in registering suicides

London had the lowest suicide rate at 7 deaths per 100,000, compared to the North East which has 12.8 deaths per 100,000.

The figures are for suicides registered in 2022, but can only be made official once an inquest has been completed.

The time taking to register the deaths is increasing - from 180 days in 2021 to 195 days in the last year.

This is the longest delay since 2001, and means many deaths in 2022's figures occurred in 2021 or even 2020.

Get support if you're struggling

Visit the Hub of Hope if you want to find mental health services near you.

To find out more about Lincolnshire's Night Light Cafes search for your local area or get in touch here.

If you want to talk to someone, Samaritans are on 116 123

You can text SHOUT to 85258 to speak to someone on text

Talk to your GP - and in an emergency call 999